Sunday, April 26, 2009

This is one big transformer, and with almost no difference in paint or parts, this can even be considered as a bootleg instead of a knockoff... Yeap, sharp eye readers will see that I have (re-)painted the window panes at the side of the truck... original paint is lousy... Parts are loose and easily broken , eg. clips of the "bag-pack", leg connectors (big piece some more!), missing springs to have the cyberkey power function, face-mask misaligned and cannot cover fully, truck body has protruding screw-head that blocks the bot legs (in truck mode) to go in, unpainted matrix, extremely loose chest piece, etc...

I borrowed the original KO picture from sgCollect.com, many thanks to "tornados117", owner of the above picture...The original KO has extremely ugly stickers, which makes it looks extremely KO-ish, so I decided to remove all the stickers... notice the face-mask halfway up?(http://www.sgcollect.com/forum/lofiversion/index.php/t26276-2150.html)

After removing the stickers and major operations, my Galaxy Convoy looks like this: Almost flaws rectified!!!!!!!!! Nicer right?Repaired the cyberkey function!!!! Workable!!!!!

Noticed the extra piece (looks V-shaped) above the chest pieces? Yeap, that is the last resort in order to make the chest pieces close tight... not too bad, as it did not affect the aesthetics... Painted the matrix to look like the real deal... Face mask also able to slide up fully...

What you did not see here will be the broken clips of the backpack and legs connectors... keep on breaking... now solved, hopefully can last long....

Monday, April 20, 2009

ATTENTION!!!! For Bashers who wanted to repair KOs made of "chewy dog-toy" plastic, ie. "lousy" quality type (but I like them) as seen in the KO G1 Dreadwind and Darkwing (Blue/Purple & white) or those Chinese KO Kabaya kits (G1, LOC, etc)...

I am on course today near Ting Bahru Plaza today, so during lunch time decides to go there jalan jalan. Then in Self-fix (the shop selling DIY tools, etc), I saw this Plastics Glue, and decide to buy & try... Expensive, S$8.80... It says works even on Polyethylene (Polythene) and Polypropylene...

Tried on a small piece of the sprue of the Chinese Kabaya LOC Dirtboss... It works well for this type (which super glue cannot work...) , and should also be able to bond the "chewy dog toy" type of plastic that normal super glue cannot join. You need to apply the transparent primer on both sides to join (looks like it does some chemical reaction with the plastic as the plastic looks scratched and rougher...) wait for them to dry... and then apply the glue on 1 side of the plastic. Press the 2 pieces for a while, about 5 secs later it will start to cure.... takes long time to really complete cure and stay strong...

Now waiting for December to come and I will re-repair my "chewy dog-toy" plastic-made KO, as well as the Chinese Kabaya KOs! Sweet!

Edit #1: I cannot resist but tried out this glue to repair. First I test the glue to see if it an form a thin layer like the normal super glue for thickening purposes. It worked well on my "chewy dog-toy" G1 KO Dreadwind's fist-holes, which can now hold the guns snuggly. With the success, I proeed to repaired my Threadbolt (the micromaster small small one... yeap, a chinese Kabaya-style KO), success!!! Then, went on to repair the chinese Kabaya KO, G1 Blitzwing! Success too!!!!! Now his winged shoulders can stay in place and the small rear tail fins won't come out so easily!! Sweet...

(2) (Legends) Movie Blackout (Retooled)KO collectors will recognised this piece as part of the crap, retooled legends gestalt the KO makers thought of. Yeap, the gestalt looks crap! hahaha.... But the individual is not too bad!(thanks to owner of pic above, sorry I had forgotten where I got this pic from)Mine was an individual packed one, in camo-green colour...

Added 2 missiles on the hands....

Original KO looks like this... (thanks again to owner of this pic)... The tail fin can be used as a weapon!

Repainted the face as well, going to add some heels later in December...

(3) (Legends) Movie Bumblebee (Retooled)Yeap, same series as above... car is very similar to the old Camero... (thanks again to owner of this pic)...

Painted 2 stripes of black and silver bumper to look more like the real deal...

Original bot mode of KO (thanks again to owner of this pic)... Face is plain, arms not painted, loose leg ball-joint...

Right, 3 KO mods and bashes to intro here today. I think I have not much bashes left, waiting for December to come and I can continue to work on those bought...

(1) RobotmasterStarscreamThe 1st piece I bought long time ago has the upper & lower arms super-glued together at the factory... damn... I tried bashing but it is flimsy... and tried as I might, I could not get a decent one to bash again...

Mods/Bashes/Repairs I did:(i) Remove the LED in the cockpit.(ii) Paint the cockpit orange, and waist silver to match the original RobotmasterStarscream.(iii) Make the head able to turn (to avoid seeing the face in jet mode). And the whole neck structure was so badly done, it literally crumbles many times... And jet mode has a big gap near the cockpit that I have to cover the gaps up with cardboard... ugly ugly...(iv) Cut the upper & lower arms apart and make swivel joint to connect the 2 pieces. I did a bad job in that the joints are flimsily done, not much experience then... Also, by doing so, I have to trim off the wrist area to let the hands fit into the back when transforming to jet mode.

Still, it looks OK... in bot mode...

Few years later, I saw 1 at a pasarmalam, for $3.50, I just have to grab it and re-bash... and heng ah, this time it has proper rotatable lower arms.... so what you see below is actually my 2nd piece of the KO...

Mods/Bashes/Repairs I did:(i) Transfer the legs of old one over to new body.(ii) Paint the cockpit to orange, and waist to silver.(iii) Make head rotatable (this time nicely done =) )(iv) Printed two chest pieces to cover the 2 round holes in the chest (see pic above)....

Here's a close-up view...

So now head cannot be seen at the bottom in jet mode. On the right is the HenkeiStarscream (non-KO) I used for my own photo-taking....

(2) Indy (Armada minicon - Mirage)

This is the piece I acquire in 1 small accessory shop in Kukup, while I went for a short trip. Man, I have been searching for the Race Team high and low, ever since I complete collected the KO Air Assault Team (Star Saber), but seems can never find them... then found them in the least expected place... hahaha... in fact, that's how I got some of my KOs... in places I not dream of... Anyway, this is the Kabaya-styled version, comes in a metallised plastic bag, and have to DIY...FUN! ....

The other 2 members have minor trimmings, but this one has 1 major problem. The spoiler is fixed to the body, the face exposed in racing car mode/Skyboom Shield mode. So I make a small sliding face mask to cover the face when needed. Not bad.. It is only recently that I discover the real deal's way is making the spoiler able to slide to cover the face.... Anyway, my method proves to just fine as well... well, almost...

(3) EnergonOptimus Prime

Ok, I know it is aka Fatimus Prime.... but oklah, not really that bad... like erm.. comparing to those crotch-head dinosaur transforming robots....

So I bought this after some hesitation...as at that time I hated transformers with non-transformable vehicles, especially if they have to be combined to form a super mode... actually now also, but not that bad (see Granbird and Fighbird), but still, I will not buy the Brave (Yuusha) series - Fire Dagwon, cos its gestalt form needs non transforming vehicles...

But this is a Optimus Prime...so I relented in the end... Look at the picture... His right arm seem higher right? Cos this piece is moulded from the Kabaya version, and the arms are non-swivel type, got to plug into the holes at the body. So I bashed it... and have to make a big wheel too, as I found 1 is missing when I open up the box...

Closer view of how I added the swivelling joint, but I did not aligned it properly... and notice the ugly DIY wheel? ... Actually wheel was quite nice till I painted it with poster colour... sigh, if were to paint-pen now, the effect will be different... Anyway, grew to like it...

Did some other minor mods too, like shaving some plastic off the back (or helmet... can't remember....) to flip down the helmet completely in basic bot mode...

More KOs next time.. perhaps I will not be able to show mods for subsequent KOs, just those that I find interesting... till next time!

Surprise, surprise... a decent looking gestalt (compared to the ugly new Cybertron KO gestalts) with individual bots' weapons merge to one big one! Very Yuusha-like, right...

In short, this is one KO gestalt set worth buying... Need to mod a bit, of cos (else where's the fun)... I used to have the Guard Lion and Guard Wolf bought separately (not the new batch manufactured recently, but the VERY old batch)... but thrown away cos the quality is very bad... but with this set, the moulds are better, and best of all, a gestalt can be formed!

However, this KO is recently being stored under my KIV pile of KOs, due to my recent acquire of a true-er Yuusha gestalt, Silverion. Not to worry, as soon as I can find a good decent gestalt (Super Guardion? Piranacon? Oversize Monstructor?), it will make its return, hahaha....

Saturday, April 4, 2009

My recent haul of KOs, bought yesterday... Actually they are not new KOs, but I had not thought of buying them, until yesterday... actually I bought them just to release stress... but they are still ok lah, improved versions of their G1 selfs...

(1) Binaltech HoundThis is the cheaper KO version, the more expensive one has the orignial, foldable weapon and is die-cast... This one is plastic all the way without the foldable weapon, just 1 large rifle. After opening up, I also realise this version has a lot of parts moulded for snap-in, without other joints, so the pieces also fall apart easily... no wonder 1 KO Tf forum member say this is not worth the money and advise others not to buy... Well, I disagree.... since I always like to rebash the KOs to as near as original as possible... haha... and after fiddling, the robot mode looks not bad!!!... Anyway, this has Swindle's front bumper grill as well, but I think I will remove it after I repair it... this December...

(2) Energon InfernoSigh... did not examine this closely before buying and bought 1 with 2 left face covers... wth... nevermind, will repair.. in fact, has almost done... easy transformation, and most parts are tight enough, except for the leg... and the "spine" which holds the head broke... nevermind, still repairable, haha... Head looks visible, too visible in vehicle mode, need to do something... saw some people tried to bash this into Ironhide and the hiding of the head is a problem... after fiddling, realise that I can actually hide the head inside the vehicle, but need to open up the face covers, and also cut off a small piece at each of the legs.

... and by the way, this is the gay version of Inferno, look at his red lips, wahahahahahahahahahah.....

.. and this is just done only by using a layer of silver paint.... what a difference it makes....

Perhaps show pics of how to hide his head next time... if I can remember....

Edit #1: Pic of repaired face cover for Inferno

Took a long time than expected, cos a lot of breakage due to carelessness and lousy joining... also the joints have to change a few times due to the angled bend of the cover... Finally done..then realised that the head antennas are actually moulded slanted forward... meaning there is a gap that can be seen on the face in the front view... sigh, nevermind, that makes me more determined to make the head hide inside the body....

Edit #2: Great FighBird (micro version)

Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you... the micro version of the Great FighBird set!

Great FighBird consists of FighBird (the Energon Storm Jet look-a-like, in jet mode) and GranBird (the Galaxy Shuttle look-a-like, in jet mode). Both comes with the small little jets, Flame Barrier/Breaster(???) and Barrier/Breaster(???) Jet that makes them power-up individually.... into busuk... I mean Busou FighBird and Jet Busou GranBird... wahahaha.... Ok, serious... no sword for FighBird, only GranBird has the gun that can be detached into 2... and the small jets have no other attachments to become the weapons later for the Great FighBird...FighBird is almost 90% identical to the original one, but GranBird is so simplified that... it burns my desire to bash it back to original (or as near)!!!! GranBird whole body is in 1 moulded piece, meaning I will have to dissect the whole body to make the gestalt (Great FighBird) arms... and so many things to bashed... faint... maybe should do this piece first, for my Bash period in December...

And oh, btw, I call this the micro version is because there is already a approx. 25cm KO version in the market long time ago... this is the approx 15cm version (combined, if can).... Just nice for battling against my KO Robotmaster Victory Saber!

Edit: Posted pics of GranBird and FighBird, in their power-up mode, limited articulation, but good aesthetics though... And I WILL snap off the 2 ugly "missiles" of the Flame Barrier(right pic), I promise... Both barriers cannot fit properly. Barrier jet's GranBird's head (left pic) is blocked by the side 'wings' of the small head (need to trim back of the side missile packs a bit). Flame Barrier has a small pin in the middle of the jet that prevents it from laying flat on the front body of FighBird (need to drill a hole on FighBird's body...) ... and managed to find some nice arms from the KO Bulkhead (helicopter)... but need to mod a bit, a bit too big liao...